Catholic politicians dared to use conscience

I get the impression that we live in a society where conscience is a stranger to some of our leaders. They seem to make moral choices and decisions not anchored on conscience but what is politically convenient to them.

The Catholic Church has long upheld the significance of informed conscience especially in making moral decisions. We make moral decisions on the basis of the authoritative teachings of the Church, the values of the Gospel, and the will of God. Informed conscience does not invent the truth. It discovers and evangelizes the truth based on the teachings of the Church. Only an informed conscience then can make good moral judgments. Conversely, uninformed conscience is always prone to make erroneous moral judgments.

I humbly challenge the Catholic politicians to lead by their informed conscience. I challenge them to become proxies of the living Church and be moral exemplars and leaders of our times. I ask them to stand on the commitment of the Church regarding moral issues besetting our society. Their political actions and decisions should be reflective of their enlightened faith and the teachings of the Church.

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It is about time that the Church should catalogue the performance of her Catholic politicians especially on how they stand on issues of the day. If their public life shows clearly that they do not side with the Church and they make moral judgments on the basis of their uninformed conscience, then it is proper that the faithful dismiss them as not fit for any public office. The faithful may rather go electing a non-Catholic politician who lives a public life with an informed conscience reflecting the Gospel values, rather than a Catholic politician who opposes the teachings of the Church.

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